Thank You

Error.

Usually a tool that's wielded by technical analysts, charting has come to fundamental analysis in a big way at Websites like YCharts and GuruFocus.

A picture's worth a mountain of numbers—and YCharts' images are excellent for isolating and highlighting a security's key leverage points, liberating them from the rows and columns of numbers and ratios in which they are often buried.

A few of YCharts' (www.ycharts.com) plots, like 200-day moving average, are price/volume metrics commonly used in technical analysis. But most illustrate one or more of the 85 fundamental valuation measures that YCharts tracks for more than 5,000 U.S.-listed securities.

Price charts are always the jumping-off point. But a click or two changes them to plots of valuation signposts such as book value per share, or return on invested capital.

YCharts boasts that subscribers can focus on individual metrics, or combine those data points in tens of millions of ways, which speaks to the breadth and flexibility of its platform.

But it also demonstrates how challenging it can be to get your arms around even a subset of the market.

Charting helps those without day jobs on Wall Street to sort important trends from those not so relevant, says YCharts co-founder and CEO Shawn Carpenter: "We spend a lot of time thinking about how to communicate this overwhelming amount of complicated information, and finding better ways to do it."

Many of the 400,000 visitors who come to YCharts monthly are, similarly, looking for a way to communicate their insights around the tweet-o-sphere. YCharts subscribers can easily turn their favorite data points into detachable plots that are often sent via Twitter—or the ecosystem's market-oriented offshoots, like StockTwits (http://stocktwits.com/ycharts). Limited to 140 characters, tweeted messages are quick to get to the point, and offer tiny URL links to chart or tables.

Having recently landed a $3.25 million second round of financing led by Chicago Loop neighbor Morningstar (www.morningstar.com), YCharts plans to expand its features and coverage areas, says Carpenter, and is looking for ways to collaborate with its benefactor.

The pair have a lot in common: both practice classic valuation analysis, but with different areas of emphasis.

Thirty-year-old Morningstar is best known for its coverage of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds; however, it has branched out into researching individual stocks and bonds, too.

A product of the Web 2.0 technology revolution, Carpenter makes full use of the latest database and presentation technologies to create a light, bright and inviting Website.

Pages are thoroughly and intelligently linked—as in, what would the typical investor want to look at next? A feedback mechanism tracks the crowd's interests, and puts the most popular data forward—within the site's logical format.

Typing a ticker into YCharts' search engine yields a profile page whose stats are arranged under tabs like Performance, Valuation, Financials, and Historical Data—categories commonly used across the 'Net. These are a necessary first cut at rationalizing the many data points available for any security.

Although exhaustive, YCharts profiles are clean and on-topic. Clicking on just about any linked data point pops up a chart whose configuration choices are tucked under handy drop-down dialogue boxes. It's easy to change securities, change metrics or merge the two.

Anyone who completes a free registration can tap a subset of YCharts' 85 valuation measures for 10 years of historical data. But, for $40 monthly, YCharts Pro subscribers can access 30 years worth of metrics and ratios, and a few dozen advanced calculations, like tangible book value per share. A Pro membership is required to export charts or tables, or access stock ratings and popular portfolio strategies, including those of famous value investors like Benjamin Graham and Peter Lynch.

AFTER CITING SUCH LUMINARIES, it's probably a good time to move to GuruFocus, another deep valuation-research site that just added charting. A subtle difference: YCharts starts with securities data and looks for matches with successful portfolio models, moving from the general to the particular; GuruFocus (www.gurufocus.com) starts with the particular, the portfolios of modern valuation innovators ranging from Kenneth Fisher to John Paulson and on to Warren Buffett. It then dissects their portfolios to find insight, and tracks their every trade.

Following a 22% plunge in the the share price of British retailer
TescoTSCO.ln 0.3735214774849554%Tesco PLCU.K.: LondonGBP241.85
0.90.3735214774849554%
/Date(1427838290000-0500)/
Volume (Delayed 15m)
:
30377237
P/E Ratio
1.2237802727453435Market Cap
19572349010.8261
Dividend Yield
0.9592722762042588% Rev. per Employee
121690More quote details and news »TSCO.lninYour ValueYour ChangeShort position
(TSCO.England) in two weeks, Buffett began adding to his position. Some might worry about catching a falling knife, but Buffett has earned a reputation for finding value at a discount over several decades. Tesco shares have been selling at an earnings multiple of 9.7 times; 1.6 times book value; and a multiple of 4.8 times cash flow—all 30% to 50% below their five-year averages.

Many of the charting features on GuruFocus are free to visitors. But, in general, the most recent and actionable data are saved for those who sign up for its $249-a-year premium subscription. All data points on a company's income and cash flow statements and balance sheet for the last 10 years are charted, as are ratios like price/tangible book value, which are particularly relevant to the methods and models of Graham and his disciple Buffett.

Selecting multiple metrics to chart requires just a click or two. And besides line charts, GuruFocus offers the popular candlestick format that packs more daily-pricing information into each zig or zag. Data being charted are easily exportable to a spreadsheet, and charts can be clipped and kept in several graphical formats.

Many of these data can be harvested for free in bits and pieces around the Net—just not as elegantly, conveniently or reliably. Many Websites have a lot of holes in their fundamental data—a lot of "N/A"s. Most subscribers to YCharts and GuruFocus are fundamental investors, but even technical traders could well find that the information on these sites about the condition and history of companies is helpful.